FLUSHING - Lets talk about flushing

[WashougalWonder]

So lets all talk about it.

Myself I have flushed, not flushed, gone back. Over the years I feel I have learned that one does not ALWAYS flush. There are times to flush and times not necessary to.

I see many threads about folks worried about flushing, how to tell when to start to flush as the trichomes become cloudy and then amber.

Personally I flush to resolve an occasional lockout, or to remove the vestigaes of a given nutrient I have been experimenting with...I gotta play some, but I rarely advise much more than molasses water. As many of you know, I use Ocean Forest, RO water, CalMag or molasses. With that regieme, I find no need to flush and get full taste. Rarely do I get runoff when I water, so the nutes are not being washed out....the plant can only utilize so much. That in itself could be a very valid reason to flush before harvest.

Now, I will let you in on a tid-bit or two.......Excess Nitrogen (N) will leave the product harsh, must be flushed for taste and harshness reasons.

Excess Phosphate (P) will leave a very nasty after taste, flushing helps alot.

Excess potassium (K) I am out to lunch on, have not noticed taste or harshness issues if not flushed

Excess sugars (some commercial flushes are just sugar to aid pulling the salts out) will leave you with very harsh product, flush.

Now, How do I flush? That depends. The rule of 3 times the pot size is awesome.....for curing lockouts.

For cleansing before harvest, I believe just over watering for the last two weeks with just nute free water...maybe with molasses in small amounts.... will flush out the excesses in the soil as it filters down it drags the dissolved minerals with it. When I say over watering, I mean the water that runs out is 50% of the total amount of water given. At two weeks or so to go, over watering will not do any real harm to a healthy plant, instead the worst it seems to do is make it harder to dry the stuff out or the heavy buds might want to fall down.

So, My way ain't the only way. What and why for you?

THIS IS NOT a bash everyone elses way thread. Please just advise on your methods and why, what you have learned in your situation. Include your grow medium for all to learn on. Thanks

[Dutch Pimp]

If the grow went smooth?...I don't flush...:thumbsup:...if something got out of control?...I flushed, then.

I feed to the point of starvation during a grow...underfed is better than overfed...IMO

good light is the key to good grows

[Rusty Trichome]

I do a monthly (first of the month) 'maintenance' flush to remove (salt) build-up. Fox Farms (what I use) has a habit of leaving a little bit of salt build-up. Nothing major, but I chose to address it before it becomes a potential problem. Everything in both the growth and flowering growroom(s) get's the flush (1 to 1 1/2 times the pot volume) with plain, properly ph'd water. Sometimes this schedule lines-up with my plant maturity level and harvest dates, sometimes not. I do plan ahead, and adjust my watering schedule so as not to promote root rot at this stage.

Regardless of when I did my last flush, I try and stop all nutrients the week before harvest, and flush with a 1:1 ratio of properly ph'd water. This includes discontinuing the molasses. The last week in flower, molasses won't do you enough good to justify continued use. It's done it's job, and for flavor's sake...time to flush.

When you smoke the plants (in a pipe) when properly flushed and cured, the ashes will be a fine, light grey color and powdery. The more nutrients that remain in the meds, the more the ashes will be darker black, clumpy and almost resinous, and leave a chemical (ammonia) taste. Not sure where the ammonia flavor comes from...but doesn't urea (horse pee commonly used in ferts) smell like ammonia...?

Remember, you are flushing the soil, not the plant. There's no spiggot hook-up sticking out of the stalk to directly flush the plant, so restricting what is available in the soil (or reservoir if hydro) is the only help you can offer. When you don't flush, you'll either have to accept the harshness of the smoke, or cure over a longer period of time.

[Farmer Rich]

I like to flush just prior to moving a plant to flower, and then weekly during the flower cycle. I use Advanced products, though like Dutch Pimp, I'm not a fan of feeding too heavy.. I may go as high as 1200 - 1300 ppm during week 5, but that's the absolute top. As far what I flush with, pH'd water and that's it.. At the end of the cycle, I start flushing normally in week 7 and like to continue to flush for 2 weeks.

This method has prevented my from experiencing many growing problems such as lockout and my stuff burns clean. :D

The pics are at the end of week 7 on an 8 week cycle.

Anyone growing any long flowering sativas? I have some Amnesia Haze seedlings.. I understand they can go up to 15 weeks... Anything I should be worrying about on the long flower cycle?

Peace,

Farmer Rich

[WashougalWonder]

Anyone growing any long flowering sativas? I have some Amnesia Haze seedlings.. I understand they can go up to 15 weeks... Anything I should be worrying about on the long flower cycle?

Peace,

Farmer Rich

I guess just mold in certain environments. From reading your posts, you sound pretty competent anyway, so just the usual issues to watch like infestations and such also. I note many times when I have Sativa's with Indica's in flower at the same time....I think..... the sativa's will ripen sooner and the indica's will ripen longer. Maybe a new thread on that some day.

[headshake]

I note many times when I have Sativa's with Indica's in flower at the same time....I think..... the sativa's will ripen sooner and the indica's will ripen longer. Maybe a new thread on that some day.

your sativas ripen faster than your indicas?

-shake

[handyman557]

the rule of flushing,

"if it's brown flush it down,.,if it's yellow, it's mellow" :rasta::stoned:

[WashougalWonder]

your sativas ripen faster than your indicas?

-shake

No, my sativas ripen faster than they should;
my indicas take longer than they should.
They all seem to take 8 weeks regardless of species, but I have no pure sativa's in the mix.

sorry for my difficult to follow statement.

[MadSativa]

flushing once a month is a good idea especially if you plane to reuse the soil or coco, this keeps salt build up to nothing or very minimal. Also reusing soil and coco plants will grow slightly faster, so reuses. in hydro flushing is necessary, especially if running organic, also if running organic it is a good idea to uses bigger spaghetti line

[headshake]

No, my sativas ripen faster than they should;
my indicas take longer than they should.
They all seem to take 8 weeks regardless of species, but I have no pure sativa's in the mix.

sorry for my difficult to follow statement.

no sweat WW. sometimes translation is lost through text, without being able to hear the inflections in ones voice and whatnot. i just had a norther lights cross that went 15 weeks in flower....and still wasn't all the way cloudy yet.


-shake

[WashougalWonder]

Man you change avatars like I change socks.

[smokedsenseless]

any advice on flushing self-watering containers? I have a 24" mainstays "self-watering windowbox", which does have what appears to be a separate bottompiece, however I've had no luck trying to remove it. I am still several weeks away from harvest, but thought I would try to prepare myself for when the time comes. Thanks for any help.

[WashougalWonder]

no idea at all. sorry